A blog that went from discussing about the writing life to reviews of movies

For those who know me, know that I am an informational-holic. I can spend hours upon hours searching for anything on google. I sometimes call myself the Google Princess as most of the time I can find just about anything. With that said, I have come across thousands of articles all about the different aspects of writing. I am one who loves to share information (and music) with anyone who would love to listen. So here's my vow to you, my wonderful readers.

During the final week of each month I am going to post an Article of the Month containing an article that I found interesting, that I would like to share with you. Most of the time it will be about writing unless I find an article that is just too funny not to share.

For the first Article of the Month, a person I met from The Muse Writer's Conference tweeted the link to this article. Her name is Karina Fabian http://www.fabianspace.com and this article is called Tips to Cut the Clutter. It's a great article to help tweek those pesky sentences that seem okay but are not quite right.

I promised myself to try to write more reviews this year. I recently finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold just in time for me to see the movie. I wanted to give my first review a try with comparing the movie and the novel. So I apologize for a not so good review. It is my first.....and I strongly believe practice makes perfect. (Hopefully by December they'll be great hehe) Enjoy!

The Lovely Bones Movie

* * * out of 5

When I went to the movies to see this particular movie I wasn't sure about how the movie would turn out. As the movie began I was immediately drawn into the fictional story of a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon, who was murdered by her neighbour on December 6 1973. Though a few tears fell upon my face as Susie Salmon was lured by a monsterous murderer named George Harvey into homemade contraption in the middle of a cornfield, the images and the storyline blended beautifully. The portrayal of Susie's heaven were beyond remarkable.

However I found the movie did not stay true to the essence of the book, which is acceptable in my view as movies and books are completely different. There were many plot holes in the second part of the movie in which I will not mention as I do not want to give anything away. Though I will be the first to admit that I went to the movie to see Mark Wahlberg (I just adore him for no known reason...okay he's hot) the acting was a bit stale in some parts among all the characters, including him. I found there just wasn't enough of all the characters and found that the story line seemed to be rushed.

On a high note, there was one character/actor who blew me away. Stanley Tucci did an incredible job in my view, of playing George Harvey. I am used to seeing this actor in more light hearted roles and was surprised to find out he was to play this character. Reading the book, I always found the character of Mr. Harvey to be a dark creepy fellow. In the movie I personally believed Stanley Tucci did a wonderful job with that particular character making George Harvey come alive and become more creepy than ever. He was rightfully nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture during the Golden Globes. If you ever get to see the movie you will definitely see why. There are just no words to describe his performance.

This year I decided to challenge myself more than ever before. For the past few years I noticed I had a never ending decline heading towards hating to read. (I know shocking!)This year I wanted to end that hatred for reading by signing up for a reading challenge. I shall read 50 novels in a year! So far I have read one novel (The Host by Stephanie Meyer) and I'm in the middle of reading a second (The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold which I'm trying to finish before the movie comes out this Friday) which means so far so good. I am hoping to gain some experience with writing reviews for books so throughout the year I am going to try to post at least one review per month for all you wonderful people!

Another challenge I have signed up for is called WriYe or Writing Year (http://www.wriye.webs.com/) I have challenged myself to write 200 000 words during the entire year. I believe it shall be easy to accomplish (I hope) as I have NaNoWriMo, Editing/Rewrites, finishing a few novels and maybe a random novel in the middle of the year. I love to write so I am excited about this challenge for sure.

If I could not get any busier than that I have challenged myself to finish my Web Design Course by June. For those who do not know me well enough yet, I am a part time child care giver, part time writer and student who is taking at home courses for Web Design. I am hoping to get involved with a Youth Business Program run by the government, during the summer, and hopefully begin the process of opening my own web design business by the end of the year. In order to open that business of mine I have to finish that darn course! I hope mentioning it here will motivate me enough to finish it sooner hehe.

This is going to be one heck of a year and I will make sure to keep you all posted with the process and outcomes of each. It is so amazing how far anyone can go with a few challenges along the way.

Since a the age of about six, I began writing stories for fun. One of my most vivid memories of my very young writing life was writing my first puppet play, to be performed in front of my grade three class. I was never so proud to accomplish such a big writing task than at that moment. Throughout the many years since I have grown to love writing more than anything and have worked hard at perfecting my babies to the best of my ability. I might be only twenty one but I have learned plenty from some amazing people along the way. With their writing tips and guidance I am finding I am slowly getting better with each word I write.

With that, I would love to share with you some writing tips and advice I have received from those wonderful people along the way. I hope that they will be as useful to you as they have been for me.

1. I have a really good friend I met on www.writing.com a few years back. She goes by Tirzah and when you need a laugh or in my opinion, motivation, she is the girl to go to. She recently started her own blog called A Clever Whatever Blog (http://acleverwhatever.blogspot.com/) and in a recent funny post she brings up a great point and an obvious tip for all writers in my view. No matter how badly you think your novel is at the time of writing it, never give up on your novel. It might suck. It might be horrendous, but the best thing for that novel of yours is to finish it and finish it NOW!2. When I was in high school, I was fortunate to have a wonderful English teacher who encouraged me to keep going with my writing dreams. She even set up a group for the school to help aspiring teen writers to hone their craft. The main thing I learned from being in that Writers Group for four years was how to keep the muse going by using prompts. There are many days in my own life where going to my desk to write seems like the worst chore, especially if your brain turned to mush. Random and fun prompts can be found anywhere online, and could help your mind have a mini vacation from what you are currently working on.

3. Back in October of 2009 I attended a really cool writers conference online (and for free ). It is called The Muse Online Writers Conference (www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com). The creator, Lea Schizas, did a wonderful workshop called Assaulting a Writer’s Thinking. She mentioned how Determination and Perseverance are two things a writer must have, which I personally find is true. Determination drives you forward and makes you want to accomplish the goal you have in mind. I personally do not know what to do without it. Perseverance helps you through all the critics, rejections and so forth. It is not always easy to hear the negative aspects when it comes to your writing baby, but after that workshop Lea had done, I still feel as if I could burst through those barriers and be proud of what I have done.

4. Most importantly I have learned a lot from one in particular person....or animal you might say. *Sings: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming* Sound familiar to you? Being a child caregiver on the side, I have watched Finding Nemo too many times to count. The movie is fantastic and Dory is definitely my favourite character. She taught me something incredibly important. Just keep swimming. Just keep going. Just move forward. Hard times will come and go but I promise you if you take five minutes and keep singing that song it will brighten your day. Heck, you might even get motivated to write while singing it.

I hope you enjoyed my small list of tips/advice that have helped me thus far in my little writing world.